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New Year’s Resolutions-2017 Update

Before doing a post on my 2018 resolutions, I thought I’d do a final update about how I got on in December and an overall review of how I did with my 2017 New Year’s Resolutions.

1-Start to exercise more

December was an exercise free month! I was super busy and also away a lot, so it just didn’t happen.

How I did overall in 2017

Reasonably well I think. I didn’t go to the gym at all some months, but I exercised and at least tried a lot more last year than previous years. I hope that in 2018 I can improve my fitness and exercise more.

2-Eat Healthier

Healthy eating went out of the window in December! It’s a tough month because of Christmas, but as we was away a lot that didn’t help.

My December looked a lot like this:

How I did overall in 2017

Again, I’d say reasonably well! I cooked and ate at home more and tried to make better food choices. My downfall was eating badly when I was away and also certain months of the year I struggled if there was lots of birthdays and celebrations.

3-Read one book per month

I did pretty badly with this one. I read no new books in December and most of 2017 I read travel and other magazines.

Here are the books I read last year:

-Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2016

-Lonely Planet Iceland

-Berlitz Italian Lakes & Verona Pocket Guide

-Lonely Planet Norway

How I did overall in 2017

Badly! I read four travel books, started a few others and that was it. I really do hope to read more this year.

4-Watch 50 films with my partner

In December we watched two films.

-The Snowman (DVD)

-The Holiday (TV)

HowIdid overall in 2017

Not bad. In total we watched 19 films, which is nowhere near the target we set ourselves but a lot better than previous years.

Here’s the other 17 films we watched last year:

-Fifty Shades of Grey (DVD)

-What We Did on Our Holiday (TV)

-Me Before You (DVD)

-Eat Pray Love (DVD)

-Fifty Shades Darker (Cinema)

-Before I Go to Sleep (DVD)

-The Danish Girl (DVD)

-King Kong (TV)

-Beauty and the Beast (Cinema)

-Hot Fuzz (DVD)

-Ghost (DVD)

-It (Cinema)

-Grown Ups (TV)

-Hall Pass (Plane Movie)

-How to Be Single (Plane Movie)

-Sex and the City: The Movie (DVD)

-Spike Island (TV)

5-Get into a better sleeping pattern

This was something I struggled with in December. There was a lot of late nights, early starts and not much sleep as I was so busy.

How I did overall in 2017

I did okay. I had some months where I was going to bed at a more reasonable hour and getting up earlier, but overall I still haven’t got into a good sleeping routine.

6-Do 2 new things per month

In December we went to Lapland, so we did lots of new things such as a husky ride.

I tried chocolate pizza.

We had proper snow for the first time in 7 years in London, so me and my partner went to a park near his for a walk.

And lots more.

HowI did overall in 2017

Good! Nearly every month we did 2 or more new things. Whether it was trying out a new restaurant or visiting a different country, I experienced a lot of new things in 2017.

7-Visit three new places (Country, City, Town or Village)

In December we visited Rovaniemi in Finland. Meaning we visited a new city and a new country.

How I did overall in 2017

Very, very well!

Me and my partner visited 7 countries:

-Iceland

-Italy

-Switzerland

-Spain

-Norway

-USA

-Finland

Six were new countries as we’d visited Italy before.

We visited 10 new cities:

-Reykjavik (Iceland)

-Wells (UK)

-Bath (UK)

-Milan (Italy)

-Como (Italy)

-Lugano (Switzerland)

-Bergen (Norway)

-Oslo (Norway)

-New York (USA)

-Rovaniemi (Finland)

We visited 7 new towns:

-Warwick (UK)

-Tunbridge Wells (UK)

-Ringwood (UK)

-Brunate (Italy)

-Cernobbio (Italy)

-Los Cristianos (Spain)

-Costa Adeje (Spain)

We visited 2 new villages:

-Bellagio (Italy)

–Chayofa (Spain)

In total we visited 25 new places, as I’m including the new places we visited in Italy but not Italy as a new country as we’ve been before.

8-Start driving lessons

It just didn’t happen. I’d hoped to start lessons spring time, but a snap general election was called meaning I had to work more.

How I did overall in 2017

Not well. As the year went on, I realised I couldn’t commit to regular lessons as I was either working various days and times, away or doing other things.

9-Use up what I have before buying more

I didn’t do great in December. I’d see nice Christmas gift sets and makeup and buy it for myself!

How I did overall in 2017

Most months I did well. I had a splurge in Milan and New York, but I did try to rein my shopping and spending habits in a bit.

25 thoughts on “New Year’s Resolutions-2017 Update”

Overall, an awesome job on your resolutions! I think it’s really tough to go from only working out a few times a month to working out 5 days a week the entire year, or from eating out all the time to only eating home-cooked meals. As long as you did better than the previous year, that’s a step in the right direction 🙂 You can always keep on improving the following year!

You travelled to so many places in 2017! It felt like you were going on a trip at least once a month. I’m envious!

Aaw thank you! The main thing was to make some improvements, which I feel I did😊 As long as I can improve my eating/exercise a bit more each year, I’m happy☺ We was really lucky to travel as much as we did! We had 11 trips in total so pretty much once a month☺ x

Loved this! I can’t believe you visited six new countries, that is incredible! What a year. What was the chocolate pizza like? I’ve seen them before but never been sure if I fancied them or not, like chocolate just doesn’t belong on pizza ha ha. If you want any book recommendations hun let me know, I love reading. Jane Costello is an amazing author for light hearted, summery reads – perfect for lounging by the pool. Can’t wait to see what your 2018 goals are! x

Aaw thank you! We travelled a lot last year😊 Haha I quite like it, but it’s heavy. I mean once you’ve eaten real pizza, then you eat more dough topped with chocolate, it’s filling! Aaw thanks huni. I have so many books at home I’ve bought and not read yet🙈 xx

You did! Yeah I can imagine, and I bet so sickly too! I bet it’s quite nice though actually, like a waffle or something! That’s okay! Haha I’m the same, I’m always buying new books so I always have loaaadd I haven’t read yet! X

lovely to read your recap, and also your reasons for not getting ahead with some of the resolutions. overall I do think you did marvelously as time is always a constraint to do more. I so love that you went to so many new places, that is an education in itself and time with people you love is incomparable to doing anything else. I wish you the best in achieving with your 2018 resolutions!

Aaw thank you. Time is a constraint, I forever wish some months I had more time but I tried my best😊 I was very fortunate to travel so much last year and I had lovely days out and breaks away with loved ones😊 Thank you xx

It is interesting. I think I improved in many areas like exercise, but some areas need more work. I liked it! It’s pretty filling and unusual really as it’s like regular pizza dough, but the chocolate makes it taste good😊 x

It’s wonderful that you got to visit so many new places this year. I’m too lazy to arrange a short trip to Brighton or Eastbourne – so you’re my travel hero!

And about usig what you have before buying more… it’s always difficult with all those gift sets… this year I told everyone that I would not be able to accept presents because I have no space to store stuff. I said I would be grateful to receive Boots vouchers instead, but I would still give people regular presents. Result: I got to shop for other people (I love it!), and I got lots of Boots vouchers which I’ve tucked away in a wallet. There was only one person who got me a gift set (it’s the lovely TBS set you said you liked), but I’m actually happy that I got this lovely gift from a friend.

Anyway, let’s see what 2018 has in store.
So far, for me, it’s the same old…

Haha December’s definitely not the month to worry about exercise and healthy eating😂 Aaw thank you. I love Brighton, there’s some great food places so I hope you get to go this year☺ Aaw that is a good idea. Realistically I didn’t need anything. I asked for pj’s and a few bits I did need and I included a few bits I’d run out of. But I now have a lot of stuff in bags on the floor🙈 The Body Shop set is lovely. Aaw well January is always a slow month. I’ve started back with healthy eating and exercise but it’s my month to catch up on stuff, so it’s a quieter time for me. Hopefully 2018 will be great for us both☺ x

I think you did so well overall! It’s hard to anticipate how the year will shape when you set the goals in the beginning – lots of things pop up unexpectedly which can derail goals. I am so amazed at all the places you visited in 2017 and all the new things you tried too. I firmly think people grow by travelling more and experiencing new things. Here’s to an amazing 2018 – looking forward to seeing what goals you have planned! 😀

Aaw thank you☺ It is hard to know how the year will go, so I think I did pretty well. It was a great year as we got to visit a lot of new places and tried a lot of new things which was the things I was most excited for out of my resolutions☺ I agree. Travel can help you learn and grow. Aaw I hope it’s an amazing year for you too😊 xx

What a lovely review – seeing all those places listed out is making me very envious! I don’t know how you afford all your trips you must either be a secret millionaire of very good at saving haha!
I think overall you did really well, travelling is always hard for eating well and staying on track as all the tasty culinary delights of other countries are never the healthiest! The start of the year I did really well at exercising/eating well – but after the wedding & three week honeymoon (which was basically spent eating nice food) I just let myself have some time off (ahem, 6 months now) and I really need to find some motivation to jump back into it this year!

😂 I wish I was a secret millionaire! We didn’t go away as much in 2016, so we saved. We still have some savings but I shouldn’t imagine there will be many years like last year. Oh yeah, being away or out a lot is my downfall. If I’m away a lot, I struggle to get back into healthy eating when I’m home. Haha well January is a good time to start!☺ I deliberately planned nothing for this month so I can start to eat better/exercise x